Our team went into the match against Mezőkövesd with a much-changed starting line-up, as Kornél Ene, Márk Gyetván and Dávid Holman were all ruled out by illness, while Ábel Krajcsovics joined Tamás Csilus and Richárd Vernes on the injury list. Head coach Zsolt Laczkó ultimately made five changes compared with the starting eleven at Soroksár.
Tibor Szabó, playing his fourth NB II match, started for the first team for the first time, while Gellért Dúzs was given his first opportunity of the current season. Zsombor Bévárdi, signed on Friday, was also on the pitch from the opening whistle, with Zsolt Laczkó using him as a left wing-back.
As a prelude to the match we welcomed one of our club’s legendary figures, Mihály Kozma, who celebrated his 75th birthday on the day of the game. On the occasion, managing director Árpád Séllei presented him with a shirt bearing the inscription “Kozma 75”, and he was also invited to take the ceremonial kick-off. Mihály Kozma served our club for 25 years, first as a player and later as a sporting executive. He was Honvéd captain for ten years. He was a two-time champion, four-time runner-up, two-time bronze medallist, three-time league top scorer and Olympic silver medallist. From 1984 he worked as a youth coach, from 1986 as head of the football department, and from 1991 he was director of Kispest-Honvéd; in total he won 15 medals in red and black.
On the pitch we saw a Kispest chance as early as the fourth minute. We won possession after a Mezőkövesd corner, Attila Lőrinczy released Zoltán Medgyes down the right from the middle of our own half, and he sprinted towards goal together with Zsombor Bévárdi, but goalkeeper Winter intercepted our winger’s cross ahead of the arriving players. In the 11th minute we could note a glancing header from Noel Keresztes, and three minutes later our midfielder was again at the centre of the action: the defenders managed to clear ahead of Benedek Simon, but only briefly, and Keresztes met the ball beautifully from 20 metres, his effort clipping the crossbar on its way out.
The opening quarter of an hour therefore belonged to us, and in the 19th minute Winter saved Pauljevic’s shot, although before and after that Dúzs also had to intervene following crosses. In fact, in the 33rd minute Mezőkövesd had the biggest chance of the match up to that point: Cseri floated the ball into the middle and Dúzs produced an excellent save from Bányai’s header from six metres!
Towards the end of the half we threatened again. Lőrinczy drove a left-sided free-kick sharply towards the bottom-right corner, but Winter pushed it behind for a corner. Five minutes later Lőrinczy tried again from the left channel, this time after a Bévárdi throw-in. Winter saved once more, but the ball spun up in front of goal. Benedek Simon and Zoltán Medgyes both tried to reach it, and it finally fell to Simon, who gave us the lead with his first NB II goal!
Neither team made a substitution at half-time, although goalkeeper Winter had to change his shirt and continued in black. Meanwhile, at the side of the pitch the winners of our back-to-school competition received their school packages from Ábel Krajcsovics and Tamás Csilus.
There were fewer chances at the start of the second half, with the battle taking centre stage in the opening third of the period (Benedek Simon had to be substituted in the 51st minute because of a minor injury), before the match came to life for the final half hour, helped by the substitutions. Mezőkövesd had not given up on taking points, while we were also well aware how important it would be to score a second goal.
That finally arrived in the 67th minute. After a Mezőkövesd free-kick, Gellért Dúzs launched an attack. His goal-kick was initially cleared by the defenders, but Lőrinczy then released Medgyes brilliantly, the same player our goalkeeper had already “targeted”. Despite being tracked by two defenders, our winger cut inside from the left channel and fired from the edge of the box into the bottom-right corner.
In the closing stages Medgyes and then Bévárdi tried their luck, but we were unable to score a third goal, and after the visitors pulled one back in the 85th minute the final minutes became tense. Zsolt Laczkó freshened the side with substitutions, while the boys fought hard and protected the lead. The visitors won a free-kick in the very last moment, and goalkeeper Dániel Winter also came forward, but Mezőkövesd could not equalise, so our team recorded its second home win of the season.
MERKANTIL BANK LIGA, 2024/2025, ROUND 6
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–MEZŐKÖVESD ZSÓRY FC 2–1 (1–0)
Bozsik Aréna, 1,645 spectators
Ref: Tamás Takács (Sz. Toplánszki, D. Dobos)
Goals: Simon B. (45.), Medgyes (67.), Bartusz (85.)
Honvéd: Dúzs – Pauljevic, Pekár, Szabó A., Szabó T., Bévárdi (Kulbachuk, 85.) – Sigér, Keresztes (Kocsis G., 73.), Lőrinczy (Kundrák, 73.) – Medgyes (Benczenleitner, 85.), Simon B. (Ihrig-Farkas, 51.)
Head coach: Zsolt Laczkó
Mezőkövesd: Winter – Kállai K., Bora, Varjas Z., Vajda S. – Zvekanov (Posztobányi, 64.), Krausz (Kállai Z., 73.) – Cseri (Takács B., 83.) – Harsányi I. (Szalai J., 64.), Bányai (Bartusz, 64.), Cibla
Head coach: Mihály Tóth
